


Star Wars A.R.C.

by KageXTora



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Original Fiction, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rating May Change, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-05
Updated: 2018-04-02
Packaged: 2019-03-13 23:04:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13580802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KageXTora/pseuds/KageXTora
Summary: PrologueA.R.C. the acronym stands for All Terrain, Reconnaissance, and Combat but I didn’t know that when I first read those three letters all I knew was that the droid that those letters were written on would change my life.the Rating will change with each chapter please read notes





	1. The ghost from the past

**Author's Note:**

> Hi this is my first real story so be nice. I welcome constructive criticism as well as Star Wars Universe fact checks I want this story to be as authentic to the universe as possible. If you have a fact check please send me a link to the information.  
> This chapter is pretty tame I would say Teen and up.

Hel's POV

It’s been a long day the job that A.R.C.(Arc) and I took ended in a shootout because the client didn’t want to pay me the rest of the agreed sum. Even worse than not getting paid, is not getting paid and having to walk through this stupid planet's torrential rains without a rain jacket on because You forgot to grab it because this stupid planet decided it was going to have a nice not rainy morning. So as I walk through the door all I’m thinking about doing is heading to the kitchen and making a cup of hot spicy. “Wroo wooo” Arc’s funny sounding binary reaches my ears. “Yes I’ll go see to M1” I respond in exasperation it’s been a long day and the last thing I need is Arc nagging me. Every time Arc reminds me to take care of myself though I feel a little silly, when I’m talking to Arc I’m really talking to a great big dog, granted a highly sophisticated and mechanical one but a dog nonetheless. “Woorroooo” Choosing to ignore Arc’s latest remarks on our recent job, I head to the med center to prevent any further nagging, and to see my trusty BX-M1 medical droid never seen on the market because I spliced it together myself. 

“Hello miss how can I serve you today” M1 greets me as I enter the infirmary. “I just need a quick patch job M1” as soon as I finish speaking, I take a seat on one of the floating beds that are stationed at the back of the infirmary ready to be moved anywhere in the compound. Once I’m seated M1 begins examining my injuries and then proceeds to patch them up I don’t really care for most of the kolto injections so M1 gives me fairly old fashioned medical treatments, some bandages and antiseptic gel. 

“Miss I feel that we must continue our conversation about your sleeping habits my vital scans coupled with my-” cutting M1 off I say “M1 I already told you I programed you to be a medical droid not a therapy droid I don’t need you worrying about how I sleep at night.” Frustrated by how the droids in my life are so nosey about things they can’t even understand I storm out of the med center in a huff not really paying attention to where I’m going. In my flustered state I find myself in the stairwell, that’s installed on this side of the compound, heading to one of the upper floors. Once I leave the stairwell I start looking for a room that I can be alone in for a little while. Instead of finding an empty room, I find a locked door something that intrigues me greatly after all I thought I’d opened all the locked doors this place had; I found that old testing field buried under the building after all. After spending an hour on this door I am utterly frustrated and all the more determined than ever to crack the stupid code that keeps the door locked, after all what is so important behind this stupid door that needed so much more security than the rest of the building?

Hearing the soft sound of air escaping as the door opens I scream “FINALLY!” Again I’m screaming but I don’t really care there isn’t any real reason for me to keep my voice down no one but Arc and M1 are here and I know at least Arc is charging and both of them have had their auditory receivers carefully tuned so as to not overreact to my screaming. I do it alot. Back to the door though it’s open and I can finally see what’s behind the annoying thing. Walking through the door though I almost wish I hadn’t opened the door because I’m currently looking at Nine men frozen in carbonite, Nine men with varying expressions of agony, Nine men who share the same face, Nine men that I know were tortured in the place I now call home. I start screaming again “M1 … M1 GET UP TO THE FOURTH FLOOR NOW I NEED YOUR HELP!” It takes a few minutes for M1 to find me but that is to be expected M1 doesn’t often leave the Infirmary and that is three floors below and that doesn’t count M1 having to find what room I was in.

“Miss?” M1 asks. “ M1 I need you to unfreeze all of these men and I need you to make sure that if any of them have even the slightest chance of still being alive that you do everything that you can to make sure they stay that way.” I’m not screaming but I can feel my voice tremble slightly “I will do everything I can miss,” is M1’s response to my words. M1 immediately sets to work, making the preparations to transport the men to Infirmary where they can be properly tended to.

“Miss I have a status update on the patients” I get up from my seat in the kitchen. “Go ahead M1.” “I am sorry to report that out of the nine clones only one survived the carbonite poisoning that was a product of both the improper freezing technique used and their extended stay in the carbonite miss,” I pause for a moment processing what M1 said “Clones?” I say “Yes miss the nine men appear to have been republic clone troopers.” Soldiers, I knew this place was a separatist lab but the fact that they were holding. I can’t even bring myself to think it so instead I continue speaking with M1 “And one of them survived?” “Yes miss I can not medically explain why, as biologically speaking he should have suffered the same fate as his fellow clones but he survived and I have placed him the bacta tank to aid his recovery.” I know that M1 won’t really say anything else at this point but I need to keep talking to keep my mind off of what happened to those men. “Will he survive?” I ask. “I believe it’s possible after all he has already defied logic surviving ten years in carbonite,” hearing M1 say that I’m shocked ten years. Ten years in carbonite I go to say something else but I realize M1 has already left returning to the med center, returning to his patient the clone who should have died with his fellow clones but didn’t.

It’s been three weeks since I found the room with the clones frozen inside. Three weeks since I refroze eight of those clones in carbonite, putting them back in that room. This time I have them stationed horizontally on anti-grav platforms so it’s as if they’re laying down in a line. I put little holo screens above each of them that can be filled with their information when our survivor wakes up. M1 and Arc keep telling me that even though it is possible for him to wake up the chances are still not in his favor that I should be thinking if, but I can’t because he survived ten years in carbonite; I know he will wake up.

It’s been two months since I found the survivor, two weeks since M1 took him out of the bacta tank laying him on one of the infirmary beds, and it has been a month since I started taking jobs again. I need the credits especially with how much the medical supplies, our survivor needs, cost. I’m heading to the med center to see how the survivor is doing. “M1 how is the Survivor doing?” Vocalising my thoughts to the medical droid. “He is doing well miss all his vitals are stable and his condition has been improving with the experimental medical treatments you found in the lab’s archives,” I’m about to say something when M1 continues speaking “Though the treatments have had a strange affect on his cellular reproduction. I am not sure what effect it will have on his overall and long term health but currently it does not seem to be having any adverse effects. I will continue to monitor him and notify you if there are any adverse changes in his condition.” Not sure how to respond to that decided to ask “When do you think he will wake up?” “I am not sure miss. Even though his vitals are stable there is no guarantee that he will wake up after all ten years in carbonite along with the carbonite poisoning could mean that even though his body is responding to the treatment his mind could have been damaged beyond repair. I simply do not have the tools to be able to tell you whether or not he will wake up.”  
With that cheerful reminder that the med center, while well equipped is, no hospital. I leave the infirmary to prep for my next job it’s easy enough some imperial shipping records on a group of slaves. It’s a job I can do from my portable holo tab, but it’s the delivery that I need to be careful about after all this information is sensitive enough that it has to be delivered in person so I have to take some precautions make sure that it isn’t a trap set up by the empire to try to catch the infamous slicer Nena.

Wraith's POV

Ahg my head hurts, focus Wraith you need figure out where you are now in this Force forsaken place and how your going to get you and your brothers out. Ok first take stock of your surroundings what do you hear, soft beeping from a vitals monitor? Next what do you feel there’s something on your face a breathing mask most likely, there’s a draft meaning a door is open, no restraints. You can’t smell to much because of the mask so your going to have to open your eyes next to get a full understanding of your surroundings. Alright Wraith you can do this count to three and open your eyes … one… two… three alright I’m in the medical center unusual but not altogether strange what is strange is the open door and the lack of restraints.

Once I feel that I’m fully awake I take stock of my surroundings again seeing that nothing has really changed I start preparing to move, still why I am I not restrained. Stop thinking about that maybe they misjudged the sedadditive or something, carefully I remove my mask hoping it won’t set off an alarm and get me a one way trip back to my cell when nothing happens for a few moments I get off the bed and move towards the door. A harder task than it should be; I feel like I’m carrying a bantha on my back but I make it to the door. Once I’m in the hall I use the wall to support me as I head for one of the security checkpoints to try and find a layout of this place so I can find my brothers and get the Faho out of this place. I make it to the point in the hall where I was sure there was a security check point the last time I was in the med center and yet all there is is a metal panel how long was I out that they moved the checkpoints around? Don’t focus on that even if they moved the checkpoints they wouldn’t have moved the cells if I can find those I can find my brothers and we can make it out of this place so I keep moving.

Looks like I’m really lucky today, there haven’t been any guard patrols that I’ve needed to hide from but I don’t know how long that’s going to last I need a weapon preferably a blaster. “Wooo wrrroooo wooroo.” “For the last time A R C 0. I am not a culinary droid my programing does not extend to making anything other than nutrition supplements that are given to critical patients in lue of food. Speaking of patients I have one that does need my attention I would thank you not to bother me again A R C 0.” Hearing the droids I quickly hide in a nearby rooms. 

Szu’tak how am I supposed to sneak past a couple of droids when I can barely walk without needing to lean against a wall for support speaking of leaning it might be a good time to take a rest and figure out just where the Kunta Faho I am right now. Alright I’m in a storeroom, a Kunta droid weapons store room, I can work with this most of the weapons just need a couple of simple adjustments and they’re a perfect emergency weapon. Grabbing one of the non arm blasters I set to work modifying blaster so that the trigger will respond to a human’s grip strength. Alright I have a blaster, and I’m feeling better after my little rest. Let’s go find my brothers and get the Faho out of here. I go back into the hallway and walk as quietly as I can back to the room where I heard the droids if I’m lucky both will be gone by now but if not I just have to shoot and hope they don’t really have any armoring. 

Reaching the doorway I stop preparing for the fight that might be coming, again count to three, one… two… three… I enter the room to find a droid like I’ve never seen before facing me, the thing literally looked like a giant dog, what worried me was that the droid’s tail was pointing at me and it sure looked a hell a lot like the business end of a blaster. I need to get out of this place so I decided to take my chances and fire and almost simultaneously the droid fires as well the only thing that saved me was my training, I hit the deck and rolled out of the way before the bolt could hit me but in the process I lost my blaster and now I’m trapped behind some sort of chair. 

Before either myself or the droid can do anything else someone walks in and starts screaming “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON ARC LAST TIME I CHECKED THE KITCHEN WASN’T A BLASTER RANGE DO YOU EVEN REMEMBER HOW MUCH IT COSTS ME TO GET THE STUFF TO REPAIR BLASTER DAMAGE” the droid tries to say something but is quickly cut of “No don’t even try to explain we are already strapped for credits with how expensive it is to take care of-” A commando droid walks in interrupting the being who walked in. “Miss the patient has - well this is surprising. Miss I have found my missing patient” The voice that I hear doesn’t match with the default voice of a commando droid but I still feel my body tense preparing to fight. The voice of what I assume is an organic being speaks again, “You found your missing patient? you only have one patient M1.” The commando with the odd voice speaks again, “Yes miss he is right here he somehow managed to get from the infirmary to here.” I hear movement and I turn coming face to face with a young cathar. “You’re awake!” That’s the last thing I hear as I pass out unable to keep up with what’s happening any more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wraith is Swearing in Ryl here is what he's saying  
> Faho-hell  
> Szu’tak-shit  
> Kunta-fuck. I'm using it as fucking if anyone can tell me whether ryl has an -ing suffix that would be great  
> If anyone is curious the Hot spicy is a drink I made up because it is distressingly hard to find actual drinks from the Star Wars Universe. The drink is made from the spicy nut.  
> Thanks for reading.


	2. A little history and a new hairstyle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi I'm back this chapter has faced my revisions but I have terrible grammar so be nice.  
> also I'm giving this A Teen Rating as well

Hel’s POV

He passed out as soon as I said “you’re awake.” He passed out! Now we’re back in the infirmary and I have had to change the date of the exchange because he woke up and passed out again. “UUUUAAAHHHHH” M1 not even turning his head to acknowledge my frustrated scream. “M1 when do you think he’ll wake up again?” M1 turns to face me before responding, “I would normally estimate not for some time but seeing as he was able to make it so far on his own after just waking up. I believe that at most it will be a few days.” relieved that He’ll wake up soon I start to leave the med center “Alright I want you stationed here at all times and keep the door closed this time,” I feel it necessary to say this as the med room door is the only door in the entire building that does not close on it’s own and M1 explained to me that it was due to his leaving the door open, that the Survivor was able to get so far without being noticed. “Also tell me when he wakes up.” Leaving the infirmary I head to my computer room to start arranging a new drop off time for the shipping information.

Two days after the survivor’s little excursion M1 calls me. “Miss the patient has woken up.” Heading down to the med center I open the door and find M1 and the survivor grappling in the center of the infirmary. “Hey! what the hell is going on!?” M1 responds seeming completely unaffected, “It seems that the patient does not believe that I am a medical droid due to my being composed primarily of BX series battle droid parts miss.” I’m getting tired of finding our survivor fighting whenever he wakes up. “M1 place survivor under a light sedative please” M1 responds to my instructions immediately “Yes miss”.

Wraith’s POV

Feeling a syringe in my arm I begin to lose my ability to stand, nearly collapsing, I feel the droid lift me placing me once again on one of the beds “Can you still speak?” the cathar asks me. “What do you want with me?” I ask the cathar, she tilts her head looking as if she is contemplating what to say in response. “Honestly it would be great if you can help me earn back the credits it took to keep you alive.” Alive? “What are you talking about ‘keep me alive’?” At that the cathar frowns, then almost at a yell she explains. “I’m talking about the how the BASTARDS that used to own this place left you and eight other clones frozen in carbonite for ten years giving all of you carbonite poisoning. Carbonite poisoning that killed everyone except YOU!”   
When she reaches the end of her little rant she is yelling and her voice sounds as if it’s going to break from the emotion, from the anger in it. While her yelling surprises me it is what she just said stuns me to the point that I have to choke out that stupid question hoping I had misheard. “What did you just say?” She looks at me like… I don’t know what, but she answers my question. “You heard what I said.” I need to see them; I need to confirm that they’re dead myself. “Show me… take me to my brothers.” After a few moments the girl speaks. “M1 help him up we’ll take him to the room.”

As we walk I start to feel like I’m going to pass out so I ask, “What’s a kid like you doing here?” The girl frowns before responding, “First I’m not a kid I’m 17 and I have been taking care of myself for my whole life, so I’ve never really been a kid, it’s how I found this place abandoned five years ago.” Five years how did she only just find us. “You only just found me and my brothers even though you’ve been here for five years?” She looks annoyed at my observation. “This is a big place and I was the only organic being living here.” I’m about to respond when the girl speaks again, “We’re here.” Her words confuse me, it hadn’t felt like we had gone very far at all but when the droid releases me I’m standing in front of an open door. Walking in, I notice how they’re all lined up along the wall as if they’re waiting to be moved; Each of them are frozen in carbonite. “Why are they in carbonite if they’re dead?” “It was the easiest way for me to give them a kind of burial.” Before I have the chance to respond she starts talking again, “Those little screens that are right above each of them. They project a holo image of what they look like not frozen in carbonite it also has the ability to display some information about them if you want.” I realize that she was trying to show me her respect for my brothers “Can you give me some time?” I ask choosing not to respond to her words, “Of course. come on M1 if you need anything just head for the room where you had the stand off with Arc.” As soon as she’s gone I drop to my knees unable to stand anymore because I know she isn’t lying, my brothers, the brothers I served with are gone, and I’m not. Why? Why am I alive? Why couldn’t I have died with my brothers? Force why? “I’m sorry. I’m sorry; I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to get us out- out of this place.” I can’t help the tears or the broken words that are spilling from my mouth I just can’t help it they were my brothers, my closest friends.

Hel’s POV

Once M1 and I I leave the room I have M1 go ahead to the Kitchen while I stay outside the room; deciding to stay for a few minutes in case the survivor needs anything but after about a minute of listening to the broken speech and sobs of a person I don’t really know I leave going down to the area I have dub as the kitchen “woo wooorrr rooo” hearing Arc’s words as soon as I enter the kitchen I turn towards my favorite droid. “He’s not ok Arc but he’ll pull through. he’s a fighter. How ‘bout a game of dejarik maybe I’ll beat you this time” after about three hours and a humiliating number of losses to Arc the survivor walks into the room.

Wraith’s POV

Walking in I see the girl and the droid that tried to shoot me, Arc I think she called it, around a holo table playing dejarik “you play dejarik” she looks up “I can play I’m not really any good at it Arc is the one who likes to play. what about you?” I respond telling the cathar a little about myself “my jedi general taught me said it was a good way to keep the mind sharp while relaxing” I expect her to press further but when she speaks again she simply Introduces herself “my name’s Hel by the way and I think you already know but here at the table with me is Arc or A.R.C.-0 and standing over in that corner is BX-M1, I just call him M1, we never did introduce ourselves” she points at she talks making sure I know where the droid she’s talking about is in the room “my name is Wraith and I am and Arc trooper in the Grand army of the Republic” the girl tilts her head sadly looking like she really doesn’t want to give me any more bad news “not anymore you’re not, the republic doesn’t exist anymore” I’m stunned hearing what Hel said “what? What do you mean the Republic no longer exists don’t tell me the Seps won” I wait for Hel’s response not knowing what to think, Hel sighs “sit down Wraith you're in for a long explanation of what’s been going on in the galaxy for the last ten years” she stops talking waiting for me to take a seat.

As soon as I’ve taken a seat Hel begins her explanation “Alright Wraith first thing you need to know is during and for a time after the clone wars I was a slave so I don't really have any answers on any of the political happenings surrounding the end of the war, but I can explain why there is no longer a republic and why you were frozen in carbonite ten years. First the Republic won the clone wars…” I interrupt on hearing this “but if we won…” Hel holds up her hand and starts talking again “let me explain first if you still have questions at the end I will do my best to answer them so the Republic won the clone wars, but shortly after the Clone wars ended the supreme chancellor declared the end of the Republic and called for the formation of the Galactic Empire and named himself the first emperor. That was ten years ago the reason you were frozen in carbonite was that the separatists were abandoning this lab at the end of the war and didn’t want to outright kill you and your brothers for some unknown reason. Now to explain why you spent so much time in carbonite five of those years this place was abandoned and the five years that I was here, were simply because I didn’t know you were here” hearing Hel’s explanation left a lot of blank spaces such as what has been going on in the galaxy while I was in carbonite, how I am even alive right now to be talking to her, not quite ready to delve into the details of how I survived something that my brothers didn’t, I focus on the first question “what has been going on in the ten years that I have been in carbonite other than the establishment of the empire” Hel sits for a minute before she answers “well that is what’s been going on the for the last ten years establishing the empire. The empire has been establishing its power over the galaxy through the use of force, which includes military occupations, the threat of blockades, and a number of other tactics, under the empire the galaxy has become a dangerous place if you aren’t willing to kneel under the emperor and his power hungry lackeys” hearing what Hel has to say makes me furious from what she’s told me everything I fought for, everything my brothers fought and died for is gone as if it never existed in the first place.

While I fume I almost miss Hel continue talking “so now that you’re kinda caught up with what’s been happening for the last ten years I’m going to give you a choice, once you’ve recovered I can either get you a shuttle ticket to some other obscure outer rim planet where you can live the rest of your life or you can stay here with me and help me with my work” looking at Hel, I voice the obvious question “and your work is?” Hel doesn’t take any time to answer this question “I’m an information broker” I respond with another question “and how do you gather said information?” at my second question Hel smiles “you’re a smart man, I like that, I’m a slicer a really good slicer” and another question “and what help would I be?” Hel’s smile gets bigger with that question and I think I know why “does that mean you’ll stay” unwilling to give her an answer yet I say “answer my question and then I’ll tell you” she tilts her head that smile still on her face “well you’d be kinda like a bodyguard” I nod my head in the direction of Arc and say “he seems to do a pretty good job of that” Hel responds to my statement quite matter o’ factly “oh Arc is really great in a fight but I don’t really want anyone to know about him” this surprises me “why?” she answers slowly as if she’s mulling over what she’s saying as she answers “Arc is one of a kind and he is also helpful in gathering information” this surprises me “oh and how is that? a giant mechanical dog doesn’t exactly make me want to spill secret information” Hel smiles again “I’ll let Arc explain” as soon as Hel finishes speaking the droid starts but in binary instead of basic “woooroooo wooo rooo wooo wooo rrrrooooo wwrooo” “alright my binary is a little rusty so stop me if I have anything wrong so you’re name Arc is an acronym that stands for All terrain reconnaissance and combat and because of this you have be equipped with a highly advanced camouflage system that allows you to pass for a living non sentient life form” “woo” “alright I’m impressed” “so you’ll stay?” I nod my head “why do you want me to stay so bad?” at this Hel’s smile sifts from the broad grin that she’s been sporting to this cheeky little smirk and says “because with you around I’ll be able to earn back all the credits it cost to fix you up twice as fast” as soon as those word are out of her mouth I know that the calm polite being that I have been talking to for the past few hours was just a front and that I have just agreed to work with someone who is far from calm and polite; I have just agreed to work with a Loth-Cat.

It’s been almost two weeks and I’ve finally passed M1’s physical exam, it’s still weird having a commando droid as a medical authority but I guess I’ll get used to it, I’m also excited to be able to move around freely again it has been hard to stay cooped up in the med center. “Hey M1 where can I find Hel” I ask partly as an excuse to start moving around and partly because I want to give the little cathar a status update in person “she’ll be on the third floor above the kitchen she’s converted the floor into a computer room” this doesn’t surprise me from what I’ve learned about my new partner she enjoys doing things on a grand scale, heading up to the computer room as M1 put it. I go to see Hel, again to personally give her an update on my condition but also to, more importantly, fix the details of our partnership.

When I leave the med center I take the same walk I did when I first woke up going down the main hall that leads to the kitchen going through the kitchen I enter a short hallway that leads to the lift. Once I step into the lift I admire the view, while the building is in an industrial district the building is also on the edge of it allowing a being an unobstructed view of Akiva’s rainforests. When the door slides open I turn and step into a room that can only belong to the little cathar I have come to know as Hel the place is complete chaos and yet it has an order to it that is only truly discernable by its creator, the little cathar, that is currently running from one end of the room to the other. “Uhhmm” I clear my throat to get her attention having found that Hel tunes out basic when she is in the middle of something. “Wraith did you need something?” she asks sounding a little startled “I’ve come to give you an update on my condition, I’ve been cleared to start helping you on jobs” her response is immediate “That’s great! It’s good to know that your back to a 100%”

Hel’s POV

It’s been a couple weeks since Wraith woke up and I explained to him that he’s be frozen in carbonite for ten years while we agreed that we would be working together on jobs from now on but what that really entails I don’t really know other than Wraith being a soldier I don’t really know anything about him what he’s good at, what he’s terrible at. Though this is all really important I need to figure out how I’m going to arrange this exchange, afterall shipping information is fairly time sensitive lucky for me the transport of sentients takes a few months of planning and a few more of preparation so my info is still good for about another month, figuring out how I’m going to get this job done has me running all around my computer room which is organized so I don’t normally have to run around to be able to access the information I need but this time it’s just a pain not only do I have to update my data on the shipments regularly to make sure there haven’t been any changes I also have to look at location data for the exchange in order to provide myself with the best location “uhhmm” I start at hearing the sound of a throat clearing turning towards the sound and I see Wraith “Wraith did you need something?” after I’ve spoken Wraith straightens up a little and says “I’ve come to give you an update on my condition I’ve been cleared to start helping you on jobs” a little bit of a smile tugs at my mouth, Wraith just can’t seem to break the habit of speaking like he’s still in the military while it isn’t balatent like how stormtroopers interact with one another there is still enough there for an observant person to be able to tell that he’s a soldier born and bred. “That’s great! It’s good to know that your back to a 100%” I wait a couple moments after I’ve said this knowing he didn’t come up here just to tell me that, when he doesn’t immediately respond I decide to tease him a little “I know that when you were in the army that you and your brothers probably just read each other's minds to know what you wanted to say to each other but I do not have that particular skill Wraith”.

At my statement Wraith makes this rueful expression I have the feeling he is already quite familiar with how I operate and is regretting leaving me the option to tease him “I was also hoping we could workout what our partnership is going to look like” I don’t know why I’m surprised that Wraith wants to discuss the details of our working together afterall I was thinking about it too not even ten minutes ago “well that depends on what you can do” after I’ve said this Wraith moves over to the little sitting area I’ve made in the center of my computer room “I guess I’ll have to explain what my job in the army was than” I shake my head the soldier is showing with how reluctantly he said that “that might help” I can’t help the bit of sarcasm that enters my voice “first thing you should know is that I wasn’t apart of the normal clone forces myself and my brothers, that were brought to this facility with me, we were all apart of a special spec force unit our job was to get into locations without being seen, to steal information from behind enemy lines, and then get out without anyone being the wiser, I was to live up to the name I chose for myself” this surprises me Wraith was a spy, I though all clones were supposed to fight on the ground and in star fighters so hearing that his job was in information really was surprising “so you were a spy” When I voice my thoughts Wraith shakes his head “not really a clone doesn’t make a good enemy spy I was more of an advanced scout” thinking about what he said I ask the most obvious question to me “so you can slice?” At my question Wraith gives an amused huff “not in the way you’re thinking” I think for a little bit and finally decide “I think we should just see how everything pans out it’s really just the two of us and Arc who will be going out on jobs and the best way to see if and how this’ll work is by doing a job together” after I finish Wraith pinches the bridge of his nose with he right hand and says “I can go with that. You remind me a lot of my jedi general” I’m a little stunned by this and then I smile and ask “oh and how’s that?” Wraith looks at me and says “you’re both crazy” he leaves be for I have the chance to retaliate. Just as the lift door is closing Wraith says one more thing “tell me when you figured out the time for the exchange” and once again I’m stunned how did he know that I was working on setting up a meeting to exchange the shipping data for the rest of the jobs credits, he hadn’t had the chance to really look around the room and I hadn’t told him about it so how. Before I can focus to much on how Wraith knew that I was setting up the exchange one of my computers makes an alert sound and it just so happens to be my e-mail computer. After reading the contents of the message that popped up I smile, I’ll finally be able to meet the person who hired me for this job.

Wraith’s POV

Once the lift got to the ground floor I decided to go check out the kitchen as I am practically starving after having to be on med food for the past two weeks that I’ve been conscious. Looking in the conservator I find that the kid lives on instant meals and not much else; I’ll have to do something about that but for now I grab the first available pack and put it in the nanowave to heat up. Before my food even gets a chance to really warm up I hear the lift open again and the sound of Hel running down the hall. Before I even have the chance to ask why she’s so energetic all of a sudden she’s already talking “we have a date for the exchange three days from now in the Akiva Interplanetary space port cantina” hearing that the kid has set up the exchange in a cantina I already have a feeling that this is not going to go as planned “and what is the cantina known for violence and unsavory deals?” I ask and the kid pouts a bit “the cantina is like any outer rim cantina full of bounty hunters and people like us” raising an eyebrow I ask “and people Like us are?” Hel gets that smirk that I’m starting to think means that I’ve just given her an idea that only really ends well for her “we’re just a couple of people trying to get by” as soon as Hel finishes saying that the nanowave finishes heating my food and I go to grab my food so I can start eating.

Though once I sit down to start eating my hair gets in the way, something that has be bothering me for awhile now “Hey do you have something I can shave my hair with?” again Hel gets that smirk “sure but only if you let me do your hair” seeing as how she has that smirk I try to get out of letting her shave my hair “listen kid I’ve be shaving my hair since before I completed my basic training” I know it’s pointless though once she argues back “first I’m not a kid and second if you want you hair out of your face you’re going to let me do it” I shrug my shoulders “fine so long as it isn’t this long anymore” looking at Hel I’m not sure if I made the right decision letting her cut my hair “alright sit here and I’ll go grad what I’ll need to cut your hair” I get up and take the seat she pointed to. It takes Hel several minutes so I’m finished with my food before she gets back with a razor to cut my hair “I’m back”. With that, I let Hel work on cutting my hair “alright I’m done” she says while holding up a data pad that has a picture showing what it looks like in the back while the camera shows me my face “What the hell is with the hair down the center of my head?” I don’t understand why she couldn’t have shaved my head completely now I have a braid going down the center of my head. When I turn to look at Hel while she responds, with a shrug of her shoulders “you’re kinda like Arc now,your one of a kind in a way and if people know about you there’ll be questions that I don’t want to answer. Besides I think you look good with a braid” I pinch the bridge of my nose and let out an annoyed breath “that’s not the point long hair is against regulation and it’s against regulation for a reason it’s inconvenient and is dangerous to have in a fight” Hel sticks out her tongue before responding “to bad the braid stays” I raise an eyebrow “why?” “because I saved your life and I say so” at this point I realize there’s no point in arguing Hel will use anything to win an argument and if she can’t win it fairly she’ll just bring up that I would be dead if not for her.


	3. The first job

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all  
> Teen

Wraith’s POV

Today is the day, the day of the exchange; Hel told me to be intimidating I don’t exactly know how I could not be, but I did spend most of my military duty being un-noticeable though so maybe I should try to make my presence known. Walking to the Cantina was not what I was expecting considering Hel has almost every other amenity available to her, I find it strange that she doesn’t have a speeder of some sort. It’s a good thing that today was one of the rare days where Akiva isn’t being poured on by torrential rains and that we’re able to make it to the Cantina in under an hour. 

Once we enter the Cantina I notice six separate beings give me a once over, and I’m glad that Hel was able to get me a couple DC-17 Blaster Pistols, hopefully I’ll eventually be able to get my hands on a sniper rifle preferably the DC-15x but for now the Pistols will due. “So we grab a table or a seat at the bar?” I ask Hel tilts her head in the direction of one of the tables “Alright I’ll get us some drinks” Hel furrows her eyebrows “Why?” “Because we’re at a cantina and one comes to a cantina for very few reasons the most common of them is to drink” with that I head to the bar “I need bottle of Old Janx and a mock Tatooine sunset” the bartender gives me a once over before giving me a response “Tha’s some strong stuff yer ask’n for sure ya don’t want some’n lighter so ya hav’ a clear head to look after yer little friend o’re there” he nods his head in Hel’s direction I narrow my eye before responding in a colder tone “My friend can look after herself and I can hold my liquor” the bartender shrugs his shoulders “A’ite ’ere ya go a bottle of Old Janx spirit and a Mock Tatooine sunset for yer friend” I pay the bartender and head over to the table Hel picked out for us, I sit down handing Hel her drink, she starts talking “How did you pay for this?” “My squad had some credits stored to be used at our discretion on missions” Hel raises an eyebrow at that “That would’ve been against regulations” taking a drink from my bottle I responde “You forget I wasn’t a normal soldier I had a different set of rules I needed to follow in order to be able to complete my missions” Hel purses her lips before she asks her next question “And what rules were those” spotting a being in the Cantina who looks to be our buyer I cut our conversation short “Rules that we can discuss later it seems our buyer is here” Hel gets this exasperated look “How do you know that” I take a drink from the Janx’s bottle before I answer “Over there that being has looked over here three different times and then checked their data pad after, so they either think we have a bounty on our heads or they’re our buyer and I bet ten credits they’ll look over here one more time then come over to our table to get the shipping information” 

Hel’s POV 

I stare at Wraith for a few moments did he really just make a bet with me “Fine I except that bet” the meeting time isn’t for another ten minutes so I’m fairly confident that Wraith is wrong. Wraith simply takes another drink from his bottle and puts ten credits on the table I roll my eyes but do the same. It takes another three minutes but the being in the corner looks over at us again, it always frustrates me when I have to refer to someone as a being, this time though they start to gather their things and they get up and walk towards us dammit, I push the credits over to Wraith. It frustrates me that he won partially because he is so nonchalant about it and partly because he isn’t fitting with the born soldier motif that I keep expecting.

When the being reaches our table they pull down the face covering they’ve been wearing revealing a pretty female nautolan. We all sit there for a few moments I know Wraith won’t say anything, it’s not really his deal to make, and I prefer having the customer make the first move “Is one of you Nena?” her voice is quiet and hesitant I go to answer but Wraith speaks first “We’re the ones you looking for” I give him a look but he doesn’t say anything else so I continue the conversation “I have the shipping information you can look it over if you like but first I need the credits you promised on the table the nautolan places the credit chips on the table and I show her the shipping records. Upon looking them over the young nautolan speaks again “Thank you, thank you so much and I’m sorry” sorry? Confused I start to ask why she would need to be sorry but before I can even open my mouth Wraith has pulled me to the floor and kicked the table so it fell forwards, acting as a kind of shield from the blaster fire that is being directed at us. “Does this happen often with your clients because if it does I might just need to rethink whether I’m going to keep working with you or not” Wraith keeps us close to the floor and maneuvers us around the Cantina while the nautolan is still shooting, Wraith totally calm takes out the one of blaster pistol I got for him, and shoots the main light in the Cantina out I hear something hit the bar counter and Wraith say “for the damages” after that Wraith herds me out of the Cantina. 

Now that we’re out of the Cantina Wraith has us running “Is there a speeder port somewhere close to here because we need to get far away from that Cantina” Looking around to figure out where we are “We need to take the next right and then follow the road until it reaches the business district there’ll be a speeder port there” with that we run until we make it to the speeder port and we don’t calm down until we get back to the industrial district. While we’re walking the rest of the way back Wraith hands me something “Here” looking down they’re the Credit chips that the nautolan girl was going to pay us with “How did you get these?” “Swiped them as soon as she finished looking at the shipping data” I’m stunned “Then how were you able to pull me out of the way when she shot at me” Wraith looks down at me “I’m a soldier and she said sorry soon as I heard that I knew it was going to go bad” “How?” I demand “I’ve been a guard for a lot of diplomatic negotiations they can end in shootouts too you know” looking up at Wraith again I see him with a rueful smile and seeing it I wonder if he thought this would be less dangerous than his life before.

Wraith’s POV

I don’t know why I thought that working with this pint sized cathar would be any less dangerous than what I used to do it’s practically the same work gather information and then bringing it to the people who need it and sometimes getting the hell out before the being that received the info kills you. “Why did you agree to work with me Wraith?” I look down at Hel “I decided to work with you because you respected my brothers and, because I’m a soldier, work that involves fighting and watching someone's back suits me better than just sitting on some remote planet waiting for things to happen in the galaxy. I’ve always been in the thick of it and I don’t think I could be anywhere else. Besides it doesn’t feel right to leave without my brothers” when I look over at Hel again to say that she looks shocked is an understatement Hel looks like I just revealed the secret of hyperspace travel to the galaxy. After that we walk in silence for a time “You really are dedicated to your brothers” Hel’s comment brings a small smile to my face “The only thing that was on par with my brothers was our fight for the Republic” we didn’t talk the rest of the way back to the lab.


	4. Adjustments

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all today I'm going to explain some stuff  
> This chapter is rated explicit because this chapter is where shit gets real.  
> so my organic characters all to some extent have to deal with the affects of PTSD so if you are uncomfortable with explicit representations of psychological/physical violence and trauma you can skip that part of the chapter and the story will still make sense but it does provide some back round on my characters, Hel specifically in this chapter.  
> The explicit content will be bold and begins after the Memory… and ending when the POV shifts to Wraith  
> Also for all future explicit chapters I will start by telling you that shit's getting real.

Hel’s POV 

Getting back to the lab I start to head up to the pile of blankets I call a bed before I remember we still need to figure out where Wraith is going to sleep permanently, after he no longer needed to stay in the infirmary he started sleeping in the kitchen on one of the chairs. “Why are you just standing there aren’t you going to go to sleep?” when Wraith asked the question he sounded a little worried “Wraith does it bother you that we haven’t figured out where you’re sleeping?” Wraith looks at me for a minute then he starts laughing “Haaha haahaaaa!” it takes a few minutes for him to calm down enough to talk again “Kid-” I interrupt “Hey” “-I’m a soldier I’ve been taught to sleep wherever, and for any length of time that I have. If it bothers you so much that I’m sleeping on a chair we can sort it out tomorrow but for now go to sleep it’s been a stressful day” with that Wraith moves around me and walks towards the kitchen it still makes me feel bad that we didn’t take care of this days if not weeks ago I mean I had been planning on giving him the offer to stay almost from the beginning. Even though I’m not ready to end the conversation I’ll concede that I’m tired and not just because today was an actual mess but because I haven’t really slept for the past four days so I head up the lift and to my blankets and to sleep.

Wraith’s POV 

Once I make it to the kitchen I pull the chair I’ve been using as a place to sleep for the past few days to the wall and sit resting my head against the wall I close my eyes and go to sleep. My sleep did not last long because almost as soon as I close my eyes I hear screaming, Hel’s screaming, once I register that I’m out of my chair and have one of my blasters in my hands, before any real coherent thought has entered my head I’m in the lift with it heading up to the next floor. Once the lift door opens I’m moving checking each room making sure an attacker isn’t in any of them but Hel keeps screaming and I have to get to her before… stop thinking and move. Soon I’m at the door where her screams are coming from I open the door raising my blaster preparing to shoot whoever is causing Hel to scream, but there’s no one in the room Hel as far as I can tell is still asleep. When I my mind registers that she is still asleep I know she’s having a nightmare just like many of my brothers did. “HEL” I shout her name trying to wake her up I quickly realize that isn’t going to work so I sink down next to Hel and shake her shoulders shouting “HEL” “HEL” HEL”.

After what feels like forever she finally wakes, jerking up crying, I take my hands off of her knowing that holding on to someone when their reliving something that makes them scream like that can cause more problems than there already are. Still sobbing Hel starts to realize that whatever was going on in her head was just that in her head, seeing her calming down “Are you feeling better?” “I- I’m sorr-rry I- I didn’t mean- mean to wake you up” she says avoiding my question “No need to apologize I’m just glad no one was trying to kill you, like I assumed with all your screaming” at my comment she gives a weak smile still unable to keep from crying. “You know sometimes it helps to talk about it.” I say in a neutral tone “Yeah and how would you know?” Hel’s response is biting “I’m a soldier born and bred but war it doesn't care if you’ve prepared your entire life for it or not it still leaves its scars and most of them a person can never see.” pausing for a moment I let what I said sink in “So do you want to talk about it?” waiting for a reply I’m surprised when Hel starts sobbing worse than before and throws her arms around my neck, even though I’m surprised I don’t move her arms or even really move at all just shift my position so that the two of us can just keep sitting like that for as long as she needs, everyone has their own way of dealing with their fears it’s best to just be there for if and when they ask for help.

Waking up I feel something resting on my chest, opening my eyes I find that it’s Hel remembering what happened last night it I come to the conclusion that we both drifted off. Looking down at Hel again and seeing her sleeping I feel relieved because I know sleep is hard to come by after an episode.

Hel’s POV

I stretch feeling the more rested than I have ever felt, but my blankets feel strange so without opening my eyes I start to feel around I soon realize that there is something warm and breathing beneath me. Realizing this I practically leap up the only problem is I’m tangled in my blankets and so I just end up flailing and falling to the floor.  “Haa haa hahaa” hearing laughter I open my eyes “Wraith! What the hell are you doing here?” I’m screaming, this time though I have a pretty good reason, Wraith is in my bed while I’m sleeping in it. Wraith stifles his laughter and after a few  moments he starts talking “Calm down I came up here last night because you were screaming in your sleep once I woke you up I stayed to make sure you were ok. We both fell asleep without realizing” After Wraith finishes his explanation I realize that I do remember what he’s saying I remember the nightmare, the Memory… 

**“Why aren’t you working” seeing the warden I try to get back to work “No ya don’t I’ve caught ya doin’ this before; you’ll work until one of us wardens turn our backs and then you’ll stop. I know ya aren’t the only one doin’ it, yer just the unlucky one who got caught.” hearing what the warden says I shut down. I feel him take my arm and I can feel the walk but it doesn’t register, nothing registers, until I feel the first lash. Once the whip leaves a trail down my back suddenly I feel everything with hypersensitivity. I see my fellow slaves clearer than ever each with a frightened look of relief on their face that it wasn’t them who were caught resting, and I hear one of the wardens count One. On Two I feel my back split open and blood begin to seep from my wound it reminds me of the brand they placed on my left hip a burning lingering pain. It continues Three, Four, Five eventually I realize that I’m screaming not because of the sound. No, I can hear everything else but not my own screams. No, it’s because my throat feels raw like I haven’t had anything to drink for days and then I had to give a long winded speech. Six, Seven, Eight at this point I’ve stopped screaming it just hurts too much I just have to wait for them to finish. Nine,Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen at this point they let the other slaves go back to work. Fourteen, Fifteen “Feel lucky brat any other time you would have received the full twenty but today the boss is having a meeting and we can’t be late for that.” The wardens leave to go to their meeting. They don’t untie me though they leave me, an example, a warning for every slave who walks by do your work and don’t ever be caught not doing it or else you will be tied to this post and be whipped just like me. I’m left tied to the post until the next day when some of the kids who are still to young to work bring me to the infirmary to get fixed up. “Well they certainly did a number on you don’t worry I have just the thing.” I here the med droid speak and I know what is going to come next. I feel the syringe in my back it stings a little but what comes next is truly painful. Our owner doesn’t care if we’re in pain only that we’re healthy enough to work. The pain of having my back knit itself back together in a matter of moments, while simultaneously killing any bacteria that could cause infection is nearly worse than the actual whipping, I feel someone shaking my shoulders. “Hel! Hel! HEL wake up whatever your seeing whatever your living it isn’t real!” That voice I know that voice but who does it belong to? “Hel wake up!”**

Wraith’s POV

As soon as I finish explaining why the two of us were sleeping together I can see Hel’s eyes begin to lose focus. Szu'tak! She’s having another episode once her eyes are completely out of focus the screaming starts. I wait to see if maybe she’ll wake up on her own but it soon becomes clear that she’s trapped in what she’s seeing. Knowing that she’s trapped I start to shake her shoulders while calling out to her “Hel! Hel! Hel wake up whatever your seeing whatever your living it isn’t real”. I know that she heard me because her eyes try to focus on me so I try again “Hel wake up!” this time her eyes are on me and I can see that she is starting to come out of her episode. I let go not knowing how she will respond to my holding her looking in Hel’s eyes again I can see that she’s reorienting herself in the current time in our current location.

I let her make the first move just like last night “I guess you want to talk about what just happened” seeing that she’s seemingly calmer than last night I decide that a cuatios conversation is probably for the best “Yes and no. I want to know how often things like this happen but I don’t want to press you for any details you aren’t ready to give” I shift into the neutral tone that I learned was the best option with my brothers “Well that’s different” Hel’s response makes me think this is a common topic with M1 “The droid right” Hel smiles a bit at what I said “Yeah he is always pushing me to talk but he’s a droid he doesn’t really understand” I nod at what she said “They never do it’s the one thing med droids didn’t do in the war every clone saw a living being for all physiatric issues and all clones of the rank of captain or higher were given basic psychiatric training to help deal with the nightmares.” Hel scrunches up her nose “So you’re saying that you can fix me” I shake my head “No one can fix the nightmares. With M1’s help I can probably find a way to help you cope, but nothing makes the pain go away even suppressing the memories only helps so much even if we don’t know why, we can still be afraid of certain situations, and be enraged by others, the best I can do is help you cope.” I get up extending my hand to Hel “But we can talk about all of this later how ‘bout we get some food”

Hel’s POV

I’m grateful that Wraith doesn’t push me for information but it also confuses me because the way he act makes me think he knows more than I’ve told him but it’s impossible for him to know more. The more I think about it the more frustrated I become because I can’t think of an answer to my thoughts it doesn’t help that Wraith is calmly waiting for the nanowave to heat up the breakfast food that I have in the conservator. I can’t stand it “Why don’t you press me for answers?” Wraith doesn’t answer right away instead waiting for the Nanowave to finish heating our food I’m about to ask my question again when Wraith turns placing our food on the table then he speaks “I don’t push you because you aren’t ready to tell me anything”. Wraith’s answer does nothing to alleviate my frustration “How do you know that I’m not ready” Wraith starts to run his hand over his forehead as if he has a headache “Look this really isn’t the time to talk about this especially when I have to stomach this crap you call food” I blink a few times feeling slightly offended “What do you mean crap” Wraith simply points to our food. I narrow my eyes “I heard you call my food crap I meant why is my food crap” Wraith rests his chin on his hand “Because frozen food is crap the only food that’s worse than it are emergency rations I had to sometimes stomach during the war” At this I loose my temper a little “Well unless you can cook this is the best food we can get” Wraith smirks a little something that I’m not used to “I can” I’m confused “You can what?” “I can cook” at Wraith response I’m completely flabbergasted “How do you know how to cook?” “I told you my Jedi general was crazy she felt that every member of our squad needed to be able to cook. Now let’s finish our crappy breakfast and then we can talk about how things are going to look from now on” not really sure how to respond to that I decide to just eat my food.

Even though Wraith called my food crap he still finished first and waited while I finished my food. Once I was finish Wraith spoke “Alright now that we have some food in our systems lets call for M1 and Arc so we can discuss the changes that are going to happen around here now that I’ll actively be living here” I’m confused most people don’t consider droid in when talking about living arrangements “Why?” “Because I need an unbiased and perfect recollection of your living habits besides I think you consider those two to be more than just simple droids” I should really stop being surprised by  how accurate Wraith’s assessments of things are “Arc, M1 can you come to the kitchen” shortly after I call for them the two appear in the door and move to sit next to Wraith and I. Once the two have settled in next to us Wraith begins speaking “Alright I know that I’m new to this little group but I think some adjustments need to be made on all sides so that we can effectively live together” at Wraith’s statement no says anything for a while getting tired of the silence I decide to speak first “OK so I guess I’ll start when I’m not working on a job I’ll have nightmares I’ve already tuned those two’s auditory sensors so they don’t respond to my general screaming but I don’t think that will work for you Wraith seeing as how you came up to my room last night to see if I was OK” surprisingly M1 is the one who speaks next “Sir I must ask how it is you managed to get miss to sleep her vitals are much improved” hear what M1 said I’m about to tell him to but out but Wraith speaks up first “I just stayed to make sure she was alright we eventually fell asleep naturally M1” at Wraith’s explanation M1 begins to speak again this time in that strange excited not excited manner that only droids have “Well this is truly brilliant I believe I have the first suggestion for an adjustment I think it would be beneficial for miss Hel and sir Wraith to sleep in the same quarters from now” I choke on my own spit “W*cough* what!” “I believe Wraith’s presence miss provides a soothing element that will allow you to sleep after you have one of your nightmares” “Wraith you have to be with me on this one sharing a room has to be completely against regulation” I feel like I’m panicking because I can’t share a room with a guy, Wraith tilts his head and I know that he’s weighing my words against M1’s “I think M1 is right it would be the simplest solution to the nightmare dilemma and it would allow us both to get more sleep in the long run but why don’t we try it with adjacent rooms instead” hearing that I calm down Wraith won’t be in my room. “Woo roo wwwwooooo” hearing Arc speak causes me to jump a little “Yes onto the next change” I say trying to hide that I forgot about Arc “I would like to change what’s kept in the conservator so that I can start cooking food instead of having these nanowave meals” Wraith’s request reminds me about how he said he could cook I’m curious to know what his food tastes like. On that train of thought I have an Idea “Alright we’ll change what’s in the conservator only if you cook something first and I like it better than the nanowave food” Arc once again makes his presences known “Wooo rooo wooroo roowoooo” “Well I don’t have anything else to suggest do you Hel” When I don’t respond Wraith gets up and walks towards the lift “Where are you going?” I ask. Wraith looks back at me over his shoulder “To the market I need to get ingredients for dinner tonight” I just sit furrowing my eyebrows “Do you even know where the market is?” Wraith hadn’t stopped walking as he looked over his shoulder and smiled “That’s what this is for” Wraith was holding one of the data pads that I kept around and then he left.

When Wraith got back he made some of the best food I’ve ever had needless to say I immediately tossed all my nanowave food.

Wraith’s POV

Over the past month Hel and I have been adjusting to each other's quirks needless to say it’s been… ‘interesting’. The first night of the new sleeping arrangements Hel had no less than seven nightmares which lead to an unproductive day filled with coffee and cat naps. Over the course of the first week sleep deprivation lead to the bed I moved from the med center to my new room to be moved into Hel’s room. During the first few days I restocked the conservator with real food and some quick food options. On the third day since our conversation about new living arrangements I found arc to be an excellent dejarik opponent and it took us several hours to complete a game. During the second week Hel and I gave up sleeping in separate beds after finding that she has less nightmares when she sleeps with me in my bed. I never thought that it would be so tiring to adjust to living with one being.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another Note on Wraiths Profanity  
> szu'tak-shit


	5. Research and Dejarik

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hi Have a nice T chapter

Hel’s POV

The past month has be eventful to say the least, but since I’ve been sleeping with Wraith I have been able to get a lot more sleep and I feel ready to take on a whole slew of new jobs. With that thought I head out of Wraith’s and I’s room, moving towards the lift I take it up a floor to my computer room. My favorite thing about the lift is it’s transparisteel wall when you look through it you not only get a spectacular view of Akiva’s rainforests you are also afforded the best view of the thunder storms that are a near constant on this rainy planet. While I watch the stormy sky dance with lightning the lift opens with the soft release of air pulling me away from my focus on the storm. Leaving the lift I head to the computer I have placed closest to the lift, turning on the computer I make sure that it’s still on its special network, once I’m logged on I go to my email and start going through the job offers that have accumulated over the course of the month. After about an hour and a dozen different filter searches I’ve found three good jobs that don’t seem to be traps designed to get me killed.

After looking through the jobs I’ve ordered them according to preference and request order. The first job is a fun one, finding and retrieving an imperial prisoner from one of the empires many slave camps. These are my favorite jobs because I get to not only release a high profile prisoner from imperial custody, I also get to liberate fellow slaves. The next job is fairly tricky I need to get my hands on imperial space patrol routes, information that Imperials keep on special computers in control stations, spread throughout the galaxy, that transmit the information on specially monitored frequencies requiring an in person job.What makes this job all the more tricky is I won’t have any of the details until I complete the first mission with the slaves. The third is a bounty job it’s quite the interesting job it has us going after a black market dealer and the imperial backer of said dealer as well as anyone else we can nab in the bust.

Now that I’ve ordered my jobs I think it’s time for breakfast turning my email computer off I head to the lift so I can get to the kitchen. As soon as the lift doors open I can smell something amazing, meaning Wraith has been up for a couple hours now. Walking in I ask “What ya makin’” Wraith doesn’t turn or show any signs that he heard me but he does respond “Food” annoyed I start to ramble a little “That’s not what I meant, but you aren’t going to answer me soooo…. Arc do you want to play a game of dejarik?” I ask the droid, that was sitting over by the holo table, in hopes of finding something to do while I wait for Wraith to finish making breakfast “Woooo” I blink for a few moments not expecting a negative response “Why?” “Woo woooo wooo” insulted I stalk over to the table and proceed to pout.

Wraith’s POV

Hearing Hel come down the hall, I prepare for one of her inevitable greetings, today was fairly tame, “What ya makin’ ” I don’t turn or do anything to indicate that I’ve heard her but I can’t help but roll my eyes “Food”. Hearing my response Hel goes off on one of her her little rants “That’s not what I meant, but you aren’t going to answer me soooo…. Arc do you want to play a game of dejarik?” “Woooo” Arc telling Hel no is a rare occurrence and I can’t help the little snicker that escapes my lips, luckily for me though, Hel is to stunned by Arc’s refusal to play dejarik to notice. “Woo woooo wooo” hearing Arc’s binary again I realised I missed the last thing that Hel said. 

Hearing a soft disgruntled sound I realize that Hel has given up on the conversation and has decided to pout over the fact that she has just been denied twice, by me and her favorite droid. Deciding that I don’t need a huffy cathar I speak up “Breakfast is ready now of you want to eat.” Having turned around as I spoke I get to see the comical transition from Hel’s childish pout to an almost blinding smile. As Hel moves to sit at the table she asks “So are you going to tell me what you made now?” I shake my head “Quor’sav fried steak” Hel makes a confused face “Isn’t steak a little heavy for breakfast?” I shake my head again “Quor’sav fried steak is made for breakfast it is heavy yes but I wanted something savory and it was one of my Jedi’s favorite foods” at this Hel gets a curious look which I expect to turn into a question but instead she just tucked into her food. Plating a steak for myself I sit down opposite to Hel and start to eat my own food. “This is really good how do you know how to make all of this stuff?” I give a little half smile at her question “My Jedi she loved to cook she said ‘there are very few things that all beings value, good food is one of them’ she taught us all the skills of cooking herself then during our stake outs she’d quiz us on recipes that she’d showed us either months before or just a few minutes before the mission started” looking at Hel’s face is priceless then again it’s nearly the same face as any brother that didn’t serve under master Koxu. “I told you she was crazy even for a Jedi” at this Hel shakes her head a little “It’s not that, I’m just trying to wrap my head around a Jedi who was in charge of covert operations having communication channels open for such a frivolous reason” at this I let out a laugh I couldn’t help it Hel wasn’t wrong. 

“Speaking of covert operations were you ever apart of any interesting ones like the invisible ship that general Skywalker flew” hearing Hel mention a republic mission I immediately stop laughing “You sliced into classified Republic data to learn more about me? You had no right Hel” Hel looks at me realizing that she made a mistake “I did hack into old Republic files but I never looked at any that had your number in them” while this makes me feel a little better I’m still angry with my tiny cathar partner “How do you know my number?” Hel responds quickly to my question “I figured it out when I took the biochip out of your head”. This causes me to blink a few times, she took my bio chip out, I didn’t know the biochips had that kind of information on them seeming to sense my confusion Hel begins speaking again “The biochip didn’t have the information on it specifically but its programing allowed me access to old Republic files that listed nine clones that had been captured and presumed dead the file included your guys’ numbers and chosen names. I didn’t read anything about the mission though I wanted to respect your privacy” for some reason I always know when Hel is trying to be sincere “Alright fine but I would prefer you not go looking for information about me in old Republic files even ones that are only tangentially connected to me. If you want to know something ask me and if I feel I can talk about it I will answer your questions.” with that the conversation died off.

Hel’s POV

After several minutes of a terribly awkward silence, Wraith speaks up “So what were you working on up in your playroom?” pursing my lips at his question I decide to ignore his teasing and answer seriously “I’ve been deciding what jobs we’re going to be doing” Wraith nods his head before asking “Anything I can do?” hearing his question I shake my head “No. For the next couple weeks I’ll just be gathering information on the jobs nothing that I really need help with. Thanks for the offer though” with that I realize that both my and Wraith’s plates are empty before I even have the chance to try to grab mine Wraith has both plates in his hands and is already headed towards the sink. “I would be happy to help with the dishes you know” at my words Wraith simply shakes his head “No it's fine I like have things to do around here”. Feeling that there’s not really anything for me to do I get up and start walking to the lift. Once I reach the doorway I hear Arc “Woo wrooo roooo” “Sure as soon as I'm done with the dishes I'll play a game with you” I can't believe Arc not wanting to play dejarik with me but he'll play with Wraith. Not even wanting to deal with those two I head back up to my computer room.

It's been three hours and I finally cracked the Empire's new encryption code, they do a pretty good job at keeping their system up to date too bad up to date is old news to me. Now that I have my link set up time to see what I can find on the prisoner. Wow the empire really doesn't want anyone to find this guy the the job request only included the species, Devaronian, and sex, female. So far no Imperial prisoners fit the characteristics of female Devaronian but all that means is I get to worm myself even deeper into the Empire’s computer network. “Uuuuughhhhh” it’s been three hours since I cracked the Empire’s firewall, I need a break so far I've only found information unrelated to my job, like Darth Vader’s real name is Anakin something, and they're implementing some new form of storm trooper training. Giving up on finding anything about the first job dealing with our mysterious Devaronian prisoner, I quickly do a scan of my computer to make sure no programs were loaded while I was digging around in the Empire’s database finding nothing I shut the computer down completely to prevent any Imperial stiffs from finding my doors and closing them or worse trying to get through them and into this computer's database.

After shutting down my computer I head towards the lift, in top right the corner of the room, ready to take my break and have a snack, hopefully there’s still some of those crispics that Wraith made left. Once I got to the kitchen Wraith and Arc were still playing dejarik whether they started a new game or are still playing the one they started after I left I’m not sure but I would put money on the latter. Once I reach the conservator I find there are two crispics left and that brightens my overall mood deciding to extend my break for a bit I pull my chair over to the holo table and start watching the clone v. droid dejarik match. A few minutes after I finish my crispics Wraith it seems has decided that he’s had enough of my looking over his shoulder so to speak “I thought you would be doing research all day so why are you so interested in Arc’s and I’s game? Don’t tell me you got frustrated because you couldn’t find anything?” I glare at Wraith a bit for already figuring out why I’m not in my computer room right now. Wraith looks at me expecting me to continue the conversation “Fine I couldn’t find anything, and I mean anything the Empire doesn’t even have any records on any important female devaronian prisoners”. Wraith looks thoughtful after my little outburst “Did you look into the regular prisoners cross referencing for prisons that don’t actually exist or prisons that exist but don’t have the capabilities to hold said prisoners either because of numbers or location?”. I’m stunned to say the least that actually sounds like a good idea but at the same time doesn’t make me think I will turn up my prisoner after all Devaronians are to prison like womp rats to carrion. Knowing Wraith wouldn’t make a suggestion like that without a reason I decide to pick his brain a bit “Why would I do that?” Wraith turns in his chair so that he’s facing me before he answers “Because it’s what I would have done if I would have wanted to hide a high profile prisoner. Give them a false name and a minor crime that carries a lengthy sentence and then on their documentation have them in some low security prison while having the prisoner actually sent to a covert prison that is a front for something else.” With Wraith’s explanation I can see the logic in his suggestion “But wouldn’t that still need some higher form of classified data to keep a record of those prisoners?” Wraith answer my question with ease “No because the documentation itself would be a code to let the beings processing the prisoner know whether the prisoner is high profile or not” knowing I didn’t have any better of an idea Alright I’ll try it”.

Yes I found this sneaky little Devaronian following Wraith’s suggestion I looked into low security risk prisoners and found a ton of female Devaronians only one of them though was booked on a charge of theft of imperial property. Which is strange for two reasons female Devaronians are generally ring leaders they stay in one place and direct the goings on, and secondly female Devaronians that do wander the greater Galaxy are rarely out an out thieves; they are smugglers like their male counterparts but unlike their male counterparts they tend to start smuggling rings that they can control from the shadows. Now that I’ve found a viable suspect for my prisoner I start cross referencing as well as hacking the actual prisons cameras and sensor system; yes I have a ghost while the prison records show our Devaronian friend as being present the the scans and the cameras confirm there just isn’t a Devaronian that matches the female Devaronian that I’m looking for. Now I just need to find where our Devaronian friend was actually sent; this is the easy part all I have to do is set my computer to do a cross reference tracking imperial transports that bring prisoners to this prison and then the location they either stopped at just before or where they go next when said prisoners don’t appear on the prison’s monitoring systems.

After about an hour where I was gathering location data for the bounty job my computer gives that tell tale notification sound. Looking at the information gathered by my computer it seems like the most likely place is the imperial arms factory, still I think I want to talk with Wraith again he might be able to tell me if my data holds up to his experience. Heading down the lift for the second time today I walk into the kitchen and find that Wraith and Arc ar still playing dejarik and this time I know it’s the same game only one piece is in a different position than before. Hearing me enter the room the two stop playing and give me their attention “Need anything?” Wraith asks. Walking over to the holotable and sitting down I respond “Yeah what do think about this place as the location of our Devaronian prisoner?” Wraith looks over my data an incredibly fast rate “I think it’s a good location dangerous jobs that most beings wouldn’t want to risk doing and difficult procedures that are expensive to automate.” 

I smile at this “That’s great because if this is a good location than I can start compiling information on the bounty job” Wraith raises an eyebrow “Why not start gathering information on the imperial patrol routes?” I frown remembering the caviaute in that job “I can’t the information is super sensitive so we would have to go to the actual control center to get the information and then we Need the client to provide what quadrants they want information on and I won’t get that information until we finish this rescue job” Wraith gets a serious expression “You know who these jobs are coming from right?” I smile at that “I try to respect beings’ privacy but I take care to make sure that no job I accept is an out right trap” Wraith gives me a skeptical look “Who ordered the Jobs Hel?”. My smile broadens Wraith knows my personality to well for someone who’s only known me for only about two months “The first two jobs were ordered by the rebel alliance and the second job is an incompetent low level imperial looking for a promotion”.  
Satisfied with my answer Wraith gets up “Let’s eat then go to bed” hearing Wraith talk about food I get excited that he’s going to be making something but he simply pulls out a couple of bowls of pre-made stuff from the conservator and my heart sinks a little. With a little pout I sit down “You aren’t going to make anything for dinner?” at my statement Wraith deadpans “I did make something, cold soup” after that we finished our food in silence. 

When I’m done with my food I get up and head down the hall that leads to the lift to go back up to my computer room. Once I’ve made it up to the third floor I head back to my research computer hoping to get to work on compiling an auction list for the bounty job the only problem is that as soon as I sit at my computer I feel myself being lifted from my chair “What the KANWAY is going on?” “We’re going to sleep Hel” Hearing Wraith’s voice only serves to make me more annoyed “Put me down Wraith! I still have research to do.” Wraith’s response has an edge to it “You still need sleep Hel and you will function better if you have a full nights sleep instead of staying up and making mistakes due to your lack of sleep” not listening to Wraith’s words I try to wriggle out of his grip but soon I feel myself being flung over Wraith’s shoulder “We are going to sleep and I don't care if you don't want to.”. “WRAITH! put me down Wraith, you can’t do this I am an adult.” Wraith ignores me, as I struggle to get him to let me go, taking us down a floor to our room. Wraith doesn’t set me down until we’re in our room, and even then he stands between myself and the door making it clear that he’s only giving me a chance to change my clothes. Once I have pulled on one of Wraith’s shirts I try to get him to let me go back to work “You can’t guard that door all night.” the corner of Wraith’s mouth quirks into a half smile “I can guard the door all night but I won’t because you and I will both be sleeping” with that said Wraith suddenly has me trapped in his arms again and falls back onto the bed. I try to wiggle out of his grasp but he literally has his arm twisted around me, his shoulder preventing me from moving forward and his hand keeping me from moving backwards. With eyes closed Wraith speaks “Just go to sleep Hel you will feel better in the morning.”


	6. Interlude: Story time With Wraith

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mature chapter light PTSD and PTSD triggers

Hel’s POV

Waking up I find Wraith gone meaning he is in one of two places the Kitchen or in the underground training room; I hope he’s in the kitchen. Making my way to the lift I head down to the kitchen but as soon as the door to the lift slides open, the lack of delicious food scents tells me, that Wraith is not in the kitchen so that leaves the training room. Deciding that my hunger outways my patience I start walking as if I’m going to the med center but instead of going through the door that is marked as the infirmary I keep walking down the hall until I reach a non-descript panel, I place my hand on the small metal plate that is nearly unnoticeable to the right of the panel. It takes a moment but the panel recedes into the rest of the wall revealing another lift, stepping in the panel moves back into place and the lift descends taking me to the underground facilities that are apart of the complex. Once the lift has reached its destination I hear the muted sound of blaster fire, deciding that it’s a better idea to announce my presence than just walking into an incredibly complex, and advanced firing range. I decide that the best way to announce my presence is to shut the room down, as soon as that’s done I hear Wraith “What do you want Hel?”. I walk fully into the room before answering “I’m hungry” at my response Wraith is already holstering his blasters and taking off the training armor that was left in the complex “And you couldn’t find something to occupy yourself until I was finished?” I smile knowing that he doesn't really mind “Nope”. 

When Wraith has finished taking the training armor off, he was left in one of those black catsuits that prevent the armor from chafing against his skin but, he unzipped the top half and tied it around his waist showing off the republic tattoo that is emblazoned over his heart. Looking so closely at Wraith I begin to wonder about him, as a person, why did he decide to get the Republic insignia over his heart. I am more curious about the four scars that leave slightly diagonal lines going from the upper left to the lower right of his face. My thoughts are suddenly interrupted by the object of my contemplations “Are you just going to stare at me all day? I thought you were hungry?” embarrassed that I was staring I turn on my heels and walk towards the lift, my reaction gains a laugh from Wraith as he follows “So what do you want for breakfast?” thinking about his question for a moment “How about those Corellian hotcakes you made a while back.”

Wraith’s POV 

Waking up I find Hel still asleep and that over the course of the night she wrapped her arms around my arm, making her look incredibly small in comparison to me. I can’t help but smile Knowing that she would have fit right in with my brothers and general Koxu. Carefully removing my arm from Hel’s grip I change into a black catsuit preparing for my morning round in the training room. When I get to the underground complex, that Hel showed me almost a month ago now, I put on the training armor that the Lab keeps but, I wish I had my own armor the training armor is both to light and ill fitting making it much harder to maneuver in. I decide that I want an easy but long session so I set the system to a travel scenario through an unspecified jungle environment, that is most likely modeled after Akiva, the sensory augmentors let me know that it’s storming, that the ground is slippery and soft, the air cold and wet. The simulation gives me a mission directive of reaching the other side of the map while fending off enemies and any hostile wild life. I had barely made it a quarter of the way through the training mission when the room suddenly shut down “What do you want Hel?”. It takes a few moments but my little cathar enters the room “I’m hungry” I roll my eyes as I holster my blaster and begin taking off the training armor “And you couldn’t find something to occupy yourself until I was finished?” I ask her as I continue taking off the training armor and putting it back into the locker that will decontaminate it, Hel of course offers me a broad smile when she answers “Nope”

After I finish with taking the armor off I unzip my catsuit to tie it around my waist and give myself the chance to cool off. I wait for Hel to ask me to make her something but I soon realize that she’s just staring at me for some reason “Are you just going to stare at me all day? I thought you were hungry?” seeing Hel turn suddenly at my questions I can't help the laughter that erupts from my mouth “haha haaaha” I continue to chuckle until we reach the lift. When the lift starts its assent and Hel still hasn’t said anything I ask “So what do you want for breakfast?”. It takes a few moments but Hel does responde “How about those Corellian hotcakes you made a while back.” 

When we made it to the kitchen I headed straight for the conservator to grab the ingredients that I would need for the hotcakes, having gathered the wet ingredients I open the cupboards to the left of the conservator to start gathering the dry ingredients. “Wraith why do you like cooking so much?” hearing Hel’s question I turn to face her while I start combining the ingredients in the bowl that I just grabbed from the cupboard to the right of the conservator “I like cooking because it was something I can do that doesn’t require fighting, that didn’t require me to watch my brothers die”. I finish making the batter, turning back towards the conservator to get to the stove that’s under the cupboards on its left, pouring the batter on the hot pan I avoid speaking with Hel for a bit knowing that she still has questions for me. When I finish making breakfast I finally turn around to face my partner once again. “Thank you” Hel’s words confuse me “Why the thanks?” Hel takes a moment to answer because she has already stuffed her face with food “I’m thankful that you do all this stuff: cooking, cleaning up, shopping for food, and watching my back when we’re on a job I just wanted to say thank you for that”. I lean back in my chair realizing that Hel and I have lived very similar lives the only difference, really, is I had a lot more support, I had my brothers and general Koxu. With the weight of the conversation I feel like I can’t continue it so I wait for Hel knowing her mind is always running faster and farther ahead than anyone’s, it really is a wonder that she’s so bad at dejirak. I’m not disappointed as Hel starts a new conversation almost immediately “How did you get the scars on your face?” lifting my hand I trace the four marks that differentiated my face from my brothers’. I feel my lip lift in a sad smile, proud of the memory and yet every time I saved my brothers’ seems pointless now that they're all gone “I got them on a mission, on Corellia…” I know I’ve trailed off but I want to make sure that I remember the story “Wraith that doesn’t tell me how you got the scars”. 

Still I order my thoughts so I can properly tell the story “It was my first real mission, I and a small group of my brothers were dispatched to learn how to fly Corellian starfighters in hopes to further our weapons’ superiority over the Seps only problem was the fact that the Seps had a small faction of supporters who sabotaged the the starfighters we were flying.” closing my eyes I can see the instruments going haywire, feel the cockpit getting warmer as the engines, that put out a thrust strong enough to escape the pull of gravity, overheat. I can hear as my brothers over the coms as they either eject from the fighters, or are consumed by the fires that erupted from the overheating engines. I can feel how my heart actually slowed down and my mind cleared, counter to what should have happened, as I calmly initiated the eject sequence. “Wraith. Wraith… are you ok. Wraith” Hel snaps me out of my head as she calls my name waving her hand in front of my face. I shake my head a little to clear my mind a bit “Yeah sorry about that. So the Seps had sabotaged the fighters causing them all to malfunction overheating to the point that they were bursting into flames in the middle of the sky. At this point quite a few of my brothers died because the hadn’t ejected from their fighter soon enough, the rest had ejected saving their lives but landing them in the dangerous forest bellow. I myself had been able to eject in time obviously but, due to the sudden nature of the crisis I was separated from my brothers, and they from me. Hitting the forest was hard, it gave me a number of scars that are less obvious than those on my face. The first thing I did when I was able to get up was make sure I still had my blasters, next I used my helmate’s comm to radio my brothers to figure out who was still with me only three responded to my call.” I pause again this time to think about what happened next I haven’t told the story in a long time. When I have my thoughts in order again I continue the story “When we had taken stock of our surroundings we figured out a rondevu point and started moving towards it. The problem is that we didn’t realize that we were being hunted…” “By the Separatists?” Hel’s question interrupts my story but it is valid “No it wasn’t the Seps. We were being hunted by dire cats large predatory felines native to Corellia. What made it worse was we were all bleeding, which is what attracted the ixta things to us in the first place, the beasts were smart they waited, letting us get weaker from exhaustion and blood loss every last one of us made it to the rondevu point my brothers even found another brother who hadn’t checked in during the initial call but it was at that point the dire cats got tired of waiting.” I pause taking a breath realizing that I have been speaking almost non stop for the past few minutes. After catching my breath I start again “Cats surrounded us moving in slowly testing how much fight we still had left. It wasn’t much one brother was out cold another could barely stand and the other two were trying to keep the former two alive. All I had was my blasters, but I knew I had to protect my brothers so I did what came naturally I fought. I killed one cat before it even had the chance to get close but my shot was a trigger and the others were racing towards me knowing I was a threat and if they killed me my brothers didn’t stand a chance. After the first shot every thing was a blur I hadn’t even realize one of the ixta things had slashed up my face until everything was over and we had finally made it out of that Force forsaken forest, one of the Corsec guards had called for a medic to look at my face. That my curious friend is how I got the scars on my face.” I can tell that Hel isn’t entirely satisfied with my story. “What no gory details?” I shake my head before replying “What did you want me to tell you how my brothers screamed, or how the Ixta cats clawed and tore at my armor, how one knocked my helmet off so that these scars were possible, I told you the story about how I got the scars.” Hel looks at me “Sorry I forgot that some people don’t like to talk about their fights.” Noticing that Hel still has food on her plate I say “It’s alright. Finish your food don’t you have research do to you’ve only been at it a day and you already have one job worked out, It’s looking like you’ll only need a few days to work out the rest.”


	7. Ch.5 Research and Dejarik pt.2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey most ratings will be T but here's some G

Hel’s POV

Hearing Wraith talk about his past, he sounds and seems so calm yet his final words tell me that he has been just as affected by his past as I have been mine. 

Wraith is right I have research to do, I finish my hotcakes and get up “I’m going to go get some work done” when I make it to my computer I sit down and begin working. Looking at the Bounty request again I see that we weren’t the only ones hired, well that’s the first name that I’m going to find. After using the job request to gain access to the client's computer I quickly find the information that my future co-worker provided which wasn’t much just an account for the preliminary credits to be transferred to. That account though is all I need to figure out who I’ll be working with. With the bounty hunter out of the way I begin the long and frankly boring process of compiling a list of potential auction goers. 

Wraith was wrong about my only needing a few days it’s taken me nearly a week and half to gather the information I have on the auction and it’s not even difficult information to get it’s just time consuming, though I will admit not to his face of course, that Wraith’s insistence that I get some sleep at night has actually help speed the process along. Though it still irks me that both Arc and Wraith have been doing nothing but playing dejarik while I work, I’m not a %100 sure, but I think it’s the same game that they were playing when I started my research on the first job.

**Author's Note:**

> Wraith is Swearing in Ryl here is what he's saying  
> Faho-hell  
> Szu’tak-shit  
> Kunta-fuck. I'm using it as fucking if anyone can tell me whether ryl has an -ing suffix that would be great  
> If anyone is curious the Hot spicy is a drink I made up because it is distressingly hard to find actual drinks from the Star Wars Universe. The drink is made from the spicy nut.  
> Thanks for reading.


End file.
